Category Archives: biology

At the moment I don’t seem to be able to avoid meerkats, thanks to the BBC. Not that I want to – they make far more fascinating viewing than most of the usual crap on the telly. I can see why they are such popular animals – their illicit pregnancies, wayward children, and neighbourhood rivalries are very Soap Opera-ish (and how we love to anthropomorphise!).

This article is an overview of the research being done by the behavioural ecologist Tim Clutton-Brock and his colleagues – and gives quite a good summary of the science behind the Soap.

A gallery featuring some of the elaborate courtship rituals engaged in by animals. No glittery hearts and cringeworthy verses of devotion here!

Male Green Anoles (small, agile lizards) possess a throat fan, known as a dewlap, which they use during territorial disputes and for courtship. When courting, a male will bob his head vigorously and may even perform an action that resembles push-ups. In response, a receptive female will bob her head in synchrony with the male. Definitely beats sprouting a beard…

CellTracker can identify a cell’s outer membrane (purple),
that of its nuclei (blue) and the proteins inside it (green)
(Image: Mike White, Douglas Kell)

“A computer system that automatically tracks the movements of proteins within a living cell has been developed by a team of biologists and computer vision experts. It could save researchers the hours often spent analysing microscope images by hand, to determine the way a cell works.”

Having spent many, many hours analysing microscope images by hand, I am giving this a big thumbs up! Looks like a promising project.

Conidiophores of Gliocladium sp. — one of the fungi to infest human corpses

A new study has described in detail, for the first time, species of fungi obtained from human corpses.

In the future, forensics experts may use the information during criminal investigations to determine when someone died – particularly in cases where the body is in an environment where little or no insect infestation has occurred.

I became interested in forensic biology thanks to the wonderful (and sorely missed) Dr Zak Erzinclioglu, who livened up the zoology department tearoom with his tales of maggots and murder. Good to read that fungi can contribute important post-mortem information too.

“Confused by logarithms? If so, you’ll be surprised to hear they come naturally to pigeons and possibly, subconsciously, to you.” [really?]

There are asymmetries in the way animals perceive numbers and time, and a recent experiment involving pigeons tapping levers in response to light flashes of differing lengths, showed that these birds underestimate the midpoint between two time intervals. This fits with a logarithmic model where pigeons might perceive time on a logarithmic scale on which higher values are increasingly compressed together.

Reminds me a bit of when my children were toddlers and counted “one, two, lots!”.

Elephant seals on South Georgia have had computerised tags stuck to their heads — and have been collecting remarkable new information on conditions in the Southern Ocean.

The seals cover thousands of km and dive down to 2000m — when they surface, the data is sent to scientists in Scotland via satellite.

“These animals are opening an interesting new window on the ocean,” said Mike Fedak, from the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU), Gatty Marine Laboratory, University of St Andrews. “They can go to places in the ocean that we very often can’t go to, and can sample parts of the ocean where we can’t afford to or logistically are not able to.”
The scientists stress the animals are not bothered by the data loggers carried on their heads. The boxes are attached with an epoxy glue and simply fall off after about a year during the moulting season.